Faculty Feature is a series in the Blue Tribune that recognizes the excellent professors and staff of Covenant College through a series of questions.

This week we're highlighting Dr. Jiewon Baek, Assistant Professor of Foreign Language.

What brought you to Covenant? How long have you been teaching?

I've been teaching at Covenant since 2016 and I came here because of faculty colleagues who demonstrate serious and genuine scholarship combined with fearless faith.

What do you love about teaching at Covenant?

The freedom to explore wide-ranging questions while adapting materials to specific students in each class is an advantage of teaching at Covenant.

What is a current research project or area of interest you're excited about?

"Right now I am transitioning from completing a book manuscript about the ethical importance of considering literature and the visual arts as a form of labor, to starting research on a second project about the economics of literature. I'm also focused on drafting two journal articles on Sylvain George and his films and poetry collections about migration and European border politics.

In the field of Francophone studies in general, it is exciting to see the increasing representation of authors and artists from historically marginalized geographic regions. Some authors and artists I have encountered in recent years are Nathacha Appanah (Mauritius), Gaël Faye (Burundi), Scholastique Mukasonga (Rwanda), and Fatou Diome (Sénégal). "

How do you/your department encourage each student to pursue academic excellence?

The expectation in the classroom is not perfection. There is freedom for each student to define her or his own goals, and what counts as "success" for each individual. "Academic excellence" happens when these diverse goals, varied experiences, and multidimensional talents of individuals come together in a learning environment.